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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,895 Views)
DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“Thank you Brandon,” Eli said – in response to him saying there was ‘no harm done,’ but not in response to the ‘for fuck’s sake’ comment.

It seemed like everyone had gotten overly excited, even Brandon, but he was handling it the best. It was unfortunate that he had to drop his cane and dash across the field, though. That couldn’t be good for his recovery.

“And to your answer your question, padre, we’re training – and you’re not needed here. Thank you for your concern, but everything is fine.”

He looked back to the kids. Connor had been silent, but Kelsey had grumbled an excuse, and then said something under her breath. Eli could barely make it out, but even if she said what he thought he did he chose to ignore it. She was upset, that was clear, probably because she had been scared. Fine. As long as she learned.

“Listen to Brandon,” Eli said. “Remember his advice, even when things get hairy. Especially then. But before it gets to that, you also need remember to be careful. I never said there weren’t rotters in there. And clearly, Kelsey, it wasn’t enough that you were expecting one. You also needed to be ready for it.”

That said, Eli knocked on the cabin door. He didn’t need to put his ear to it to hear the scuffing of feet and groaning from the rest of the rotters inside.

“First thing you do is listen,” he repeated a lesson that Randall had taught him by example. “Make a little noise – a little – and see if you can hear anything. If you can, then you know for sure what you’re in for. At that point, don’t just open a door or round a corner. Come up with a plan. If you knew a rotter was in there, you should have opened up and gotten out of the way. You should have had Connor ready an’ waiting to go for its knees. Or vice versa.”

He turned to Connor. Unlike Kelsey, the surprise had chastised him into silence, not defiance.

“Connor, you shouldn’t have let your guard down out here,” he said. “You didn’t know what was in that shed, so you should have been ready for all possibilities. If you didn’t clear a room yourself, don’t assume it’s clear. Got it?”

Connor hesitated for just a second, and then nodded quietly.

“Eli, can I have a word with you?” Annie finally interrupted, like Eli thought she had been wanting to do for a while.

Eli also had a feeling what she was going to say. He’d roll his eyes and hear her out – but not now.

“Later,” he said, glancing at her for a second before looking to Kelsey. “What about you, Kels? You got it?”
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Actually Annie, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment." Brandon said as he limped back toward the group.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Yeah, I got it." Kelsey grumbled defiantly.

Eli's aggression was becoming more and more unnerving to her. It wasn't that she thought he was a bad guy, but he had always been aloof with her. And the first time they really talked one on one was back at the church. He came out looking all bloody and scary and started talking like one of those weird homeless people that mom always said were crazy and not to talk to. It was, in a way, scarier than the rotters. Kelsey knew what rotters was going to do; ultimately they were stupid and predictable. But she didn't know what Eli was going to do.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“Good,” Eli said, ignoring Kelsey’s tone and ‘taking the yes,’ so to speak.

Beside him, Annie sighed and turned to Brandon.

“Yeah, fine,” she said with lingering irritation, before turning back to Eli. “Nothing else like that,” she warned-slash-ordered.

Eli raised his hands in faux-surrender. “No more surprises,” he assured her.

She frowned, but must have accepted the assurance anyway, because she walked off with Brandon.

Eli turned back to his pupils as the other adults stepped aside.

“Get your blades ready and make some room,” he instructed. “I’m going to release a few more rotters, an’ you’re going to handle them. No guns, only knives. You need to practice doing this quietly. Don’t let yourself get pinned, don’t let their mouths anywhere near your skin. I’ll be watching. And again – remember what Brandon said.”

He gave them a minute to do that, then readied himself to open the shed. The previous night – despite how tired he was, and how desperately he needed sleep – he had captured and dismantled six rotters total. They had been wandering around the ranch’s expansive pastures, and he had managed to wrangle them one by one for this very purpose.

Connor and Kelsey needed the training, he had told himself. Cory wouldn’t be the last psychotic asshole in their path, and he didn’t want to risk the next one getting their hands on the kids. And if someone did get a hand on a kid, Eli wanted to make sure the kid would be able to chop it right off. This was the first step. He had more in mind.

Plus, anything to avoid sleeping, he had to admit.

Eli opened up the doors. The rest of the rotters were tied up – this very shed had plenty of rope with which to manage it. Eli drew his own knife and started cutting.

“Get ready!” he yelled, as he freed the first one – another lanky dead bastard in overalls.

As it moaned uselessly, Eli dragged it out of the shed, spun it around, then tossed it forward onto its belly. When it rose, it would see the kids before it saw him again. Instinct would guide it towards them.

Eli went back inside and hastily went about releasing the next one.
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Is that so?
Kelsey grimaced as the rotters were released. Two of them total. The others Eli was keeping roped in the shed for now. So it looked like two at a time was what they were being given. She was sure they could handle that. Especially if their teeth were all knocking out -- though she didn't relish the feeling of a corpse gnawing at her with its gums again. It felt weird. Kelsey gripped the knife tightly in her right hand and breathed deeply. She heard that it was supposed to calm you down, but it didn't seem to be helping. She was still tense.

One of them moved toward Kelsey. It was a tall guy with long arms and legs and wearing overalls. The second rotters started toward Connor instead. That meant she and Connor had their own rotters to deal with.

Remember what Brandon said. Use their height against them. If I can knock it over, then I can get an easy kill.

Of course, that was easier said than done. As the lanky rotter approached her, Kelsey found herself putting distance between herself and it. It was difficult to find a good opportunity to run in and make a go for it. Because she needed to knock it over in a way that it wouldn't fall on top of her. And its arms were so long that it felt like it could grab her even if she went in low. She was an animal, sizing up its prey, but unable to find a good time to strike.

Eventually, she just went for it. She rushed in towards the rotter. Its filthy hands grabbed at her, but she was smaller and able to move it faster than it could react. It grabbed her and leaned over, but she was able to twist herself out of its grip and stab her knife into the back of its knee. Its leg gave out and it lurched forward where it fell onto its hands and knees. It pivoted its body around to face her, unrelenting in its lumbering pursuit, but now its head was at Kelsey's eye level. She remembered Brandon's lesson about weak points in the skulls; she thrust the blade of her knife into the side of its head. But she didn't have enough power from her awkward position -- the knife skimmed across its face and just left a giant tear in it.

"Ack!"

The rotter lurched forward aggressively and pinned Kelsey to the ground. But this time she was prepared. Before it could bite down on her, she jammed her knife under its jaw and upward through its throat. She saw people do it before and hit the brain from below. And sure enough, the several month old rotting corpse collapsed on top of her with a groan. The sickly colored drool from its mouth dripping onto her relatively new jacket.

"Eww." Kelsey groaned as she rolled the dead rotter off herself.

The pulled the knife out of its throat and wiped the fresh blood off on its overalls. Then she checked to see how Connor was handling his rotter.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Connor really wanted to use his gun. It would be much easier. He had done just enough shooting to get a feel for it. He could practically see himself aiming at the coming rotter, squeezing the trigger, and seeing the blood rush out the back of its head.

But Eli said not to use guns, and Eli was kind of scary, so he didn’t want to disobey him. He kept the knife gripped instead.

Kelsey headed off with her rotter first. Connor turned to see her swing and miss, but stayed turned long enough to see her recover without taking another fake-bite. He gulped. It was one thing killing rotters – or people, even, like those guys on the bike – from a distance. Doing it up close… He didn’t know why, but it was a different story.

The other rotter, the one ambling his way, groaned. The groan shook him from his distracted state, and he tried to ready his knife and hold it like Brandon tried to teach him. He also remembered Brandon’s repeated advice from a minute ago.

Go for the legs, he said. Don’t let them use their size against you.

So Connor gulped again, and then ran. He tried not to give the rotter too wide a berth – he only wanted to stay out of arms’ reach, as he circled it and approached from behind.

When he got there, he saw an opening. Before the rotter could stumble back to face him again, he kicked at the back of the rotter’s knees.

He succeeded! He saw the rotter stumble and begin to fall, like a block of Jenga. He was too pleased with the result, though. He realized too late that it was falling backwards, onto him.

Oof, the breath escaped his lungs as the rotter – plumber than the first two – landed on top of him, back-first.

He maintained his grip on his knife, though. He tried to stave off the panic by keeping that in mind. He tried to stab at it before it could roll over. He couldn’t see, but he felt it bite through flesh.

The rotter kept struggling. Connor worked hard to still keep his panic at bay as he pulled the knife out, then struck again.

Still, the rotter struggled. Connor was pretty sure he was getting its neck. He started losing his fight against panic.

* * *

Eli kept a third rotter at bay, its arms pinned behind its back. Eli was bigger than it, and its struggle to get free was easy to contain and ignore. Eli’s attention stayed on the kids. First Kelsey, as she slipped up but recovered. He gave a cautious nod of approval.

Then Connor – as he slipped up, and didn’t recover.

Eli frowned. It looked like he would need some more help.

Then he sighed, and pushed the third rotter forward anyway, as hard and as far as he could. Kelsey and Connor needed to learn another valuable lesson first-hand. That rotters didn’t stop coming.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"That scared the shit out of me." he laughed the last of his shaky nerves away.

He sighed heavily as he looked back at the kids training. There was a lot he wanted to talk to Annie about, and primarily it was Connor. Before that though he should make sure she was alright after what just and with what was happening now.

"You okay?" he asked gesturing back at the others with a nod.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Kelsey rushed toward Connor as quickly as she could when she saw him getting pinned. It wasn't a large distance to cover at all, and she got there relatively quickly. It was hard to see what was going on, but Kelsey wasted no time in thrusting her knife into the back of the rotter's skull. This time, the blade went through a lot more easily; she had seen Glenda slip the knife back there a lot of times back when she was alive, but it was Kelsey's first time trying it herself. She was glad that it worked. She pulled the knife out and took a few seconds to roll the dead rotter off of Connor and free him from its weight.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

Before she had a chance to answer, another rotter got the jump on her. She heard it shuffling and managed to turn around at the last second. One of its grimy hands grabbed her right arm tightly as it leaned down for the kill. Kelsey squealed and reached her left arm out and forced her hand against the rotter's rancid throat. It gnashed its gums at her aggressively and her little arms could barely keep it out of biting distance. But she was able to somehow hold it far enough, though she was visibly struggling against the superior force of the rotter.

"Connor, help!"

The words slipped out before she was even aware of it.

* * * * *

"You ever think of telling her all the stuff you just told me?" Willow asked Nolan as they approached Jen's cabin; her pockets were tucked into her coat as she walked alongside him. "Cause I think it's pretty understandable, really. You got all the reasons in the world to be cautious after what you've seen."

"I did tell her." Nolan responded to Willow. "Kind of. And she was understanding, yeah, but... I dunno."

He sighed uncertainly. Willow could relate. Sometimes, everything that was going on out here could be overwhelming. Nolan had experienced just as much as they had. He had lost just as much as they had. But the difference was that Willow had learned to take strength from Brandon to push forward when she needed to, while Nolan was still afraid of losing more people. And it was fair. Willow didn't know what would happen to her if something happened to Brandon. She didn't even want to think about it.

"She knows." Willow assured him with a soft smile and a sideways glance; he was looking better the longer they talked. "I don't think she meant to push it with you that night. You were both just... living in the moment. And I don't think that is a bad thing. The way things are now, sometimes a moment is all you get. I think you gotta savor the moments when they come and remember them when they are gone, you know?"

Nolan's lips curled into a sad smile. His head nodded almost imperceptibly.

"You can be pretty sharp when you want to be, you know?" He stole Willow's catchphrase without an ounce of remorse. "With a little more self-control and confidence, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up leading this pack of misfits one day."

"Please." Willow rolled her eyes. "Eli is built of nails, I don't think anyone will be able to-"

The words stopped coming out of her mouth as soon as she and Nolan walked into Jen's cabin. The bed where Jen had been laying when they left was empty and the sheets disheveled. They immediately looked under the bed and in the closet. In a matter of seconds, they had torn the cabin apart and found that Jen was simply not here. Then Willow remembered something -- the door to the cabin had been open when they approached.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie didn’t laugh along with Brandon. She wasn’t ready to have a sense of humour about it yet. Then, after he posed his question, she inhaled.

“I’m annoyed,” she said. “But other than that…”

She glanced back at the training. She was alarmed at what she found.

* * *

Connor blinked rapidly as the rotter became dead weight. His heart – which had started picking up speed moments ago – threatened to quiet down.

He savoured the breath he took once the rotter was no longer weighing down on his chest. He didn’t get to savour it for long.

He scrambled to his feet. The panic returned, but he forced himself to channel it. Kelsey had just saved him; he needed to return the favour. He wasn’t even thinking about the rotter’s teeth, or lack thereof. The danger seemed perilously real in the heat of the moment.

He was just tall enough to dig his knife into the side of the rotter’s skull.

* * *

Better, Eli thought, as Connor finally got a kill.

He had both the remaining rotters struggling in front of him now. He shoved them forward at once, before Connor could remove the knife.
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Is that so?
Kelsey let out a relieved breath. She knew they had no teeth or anything, but in the heat of the moment it was easy to forget. In a way, it still felt real. They thrashed, they growled, they smelled, they did everything that rotters were supposed to do. And when one was coming at you with the intent to bite, it was easy to forget that it actually couldn't bite.

"I'll hide and ambush them when they pass." Kelsey explained her plan to Connor.

They could get this done easier if they worked together. Kelsey ducked low to the ground and used her smaller size and the overgrown grass to hide herself from the approaching rotters. Now that Connor was the only target, both rotters lumbered in his direction. Kelsey stayed hidden while they followed him. Only after they both passed by and had their backs turned to her did Kelsey pick herself up off the ground. They couldn't see her. Kelsey saw her opportunity.

She rushed forward as quickly and quietly as her little body could carry her. The rotters noticed her too late. Like before, she stabbed the first one in the back of the knee and it collapsed forward pretty quick. The second rotter rotated its slow body, but Kelsey ran around it and pushed the off balance rotter forward onto its recovering comrade. The falling second rotter pinned the first one to the ground underneath him. Kelsey beamed with a sense of accomplishment.

"Alright, let's finish 'em!" Kelsey beamed proudly at her word.

Before she could actually kill either of the still living rotters, a third groan from behind her caught her attention. Kelsey's jaw dropped and her eyes widened at the sight of a third rotter dragging itself toward her. It had formerly been a woman with dark skin. Scratches and cuts adorned her face, but her teeth were still very much intact inside of her open mouth. Her blank, but familiar, eyes stared at Kelsey with a single-minded pursuit and she reached out an arm in her direction. Kelsey was so petrified by the sight that she could barely even move, let alone raise her knife to strike it down.

Jen?

The rotter grabbed Kelsey's leg and pulled her to the ground. The rotter formerly known as Jennifer West pulled Kelsey's leg toward her mouth. Without any time to think, Kelsey threw her foot into Jen's face and pushed as hard as she could. But Jen was a fresh corpse. It may not have had much control, but it was definitely stronger than the other rotters. Kelsey's trick was only buying her seconds. To make matters worse, the other two rotters she had knocked down were already recovering.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon opened his mouth to reassure Annie as she looked back. To tell her he wanted to go protect them too. That they safe with Eli and Antonio there. That the kids needed to do this without their help or they might start pulling stunts like Connor did the other night more often. There were a lot of things he wanted to say. As he followed Annie's gaze though he forgot all of them.

From their position they could see what Antonio and Eli couldn't behind a patch of overgrown grass. A pair of legs sticking out of the grass, the left foot missing. Emily was supposed to be watching her. What the hell happened?.

"Antonio! Eli!" he shouted as he began bounding over as fast as his legs could take him, which wouldn't be fast enough.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli frowned and narrowed his eyes when Kelsey went down, her body all but disappearing into the grass. The moment before, it seemed like she had things under control. She had recovered from the previous rotter and headed off the last two before they got within striking distance.

Then he noticed movement he couldn’t account for – Kelsey was struggling with a body on the ground. A rotter? It didn’t make sense.

Brandon shouted out, and Eli’s eyes locked on him. He was running. Behind him, so was Annie – without the limp and injuries, she was able to sprint past him. They both looked panicked.

Instinctively, Eli shared their panic. He was closer – he bounded forward himself, drawing his Supergrade as he did.

* * *

Connor nodded at Kelsey’s idea, and did what he could to keep the rotter’s attention on him and not her. He wasn’t good at whistling, but he did his best, nervously breathing out a tune he made up on the spot. He gripped the handle of his knife tight, trying to keep a better handle on his fear this time.

It worked. The rotters kept going towards him and didn’t notice Kelsey darting around them until it was too late.

Connor darted forward, knife ready. He went for the rotter Kelsey didn’t. He told himself not to think too hard about it – to just bring the knife down into its brain.

Before he could, Kelsey went down. He saw it happen in the periphery of his vision and turned to investigate. The sight of the third rotter – a rotter with teeth, and a rotter he recognized – made his heart stop. He hesitated – for one second, then two seconds, then three. He couldn’t move.

Kelsey kicked Jen – ’cause that’s who it was, Connor realized, his mind reeling, it’s not a rotter, it’s Jen. But Jen kept coming.

One of the other rotters made it back to its knees, then onto a foot as it lunged at Connor. He felt its stubby fingers on his pant legs, and the surprise finally knocked his senses loose. He moved aside, letting the rotter fall face first back into the ground.

He looked back, and a realization hit him like a bolt of lightning – he had to save Kelsey. He had to save her for real.

He ran a few steps forward, and then kicked Jen in the head, like it was a soccer ball. He bought Kelsey the time to recover, but seeing Jen’s face react – and feeling her cheekbone fracture – sent a wave of revulsion down Connor’s spine. Jen was his friend. She was sick, but she was supposed to pull through. His mom said she was tough, and if anyone could do it she could.

How was this happening?

Before he could consider the answer, the other rotter Kelsey had downed had gotten up. Connor looked over his shoulder just in time to see it lunge, and tackle him from behind.

* * *

Annie’s gun was drawn before she reached the center of the chaos. She was ready to pull the trigger, but then she saw the back of Jen’s head. The missing foot wasn’t a coincidence. Of course it wasn’t, she knew that the moment she saw it sticking through the grass, but seeing the truth up close…

She couldn’t move her finger. She was paralyzed.

Not Jen, she thought, just like she had after seeing her motorcycle disappear from the highway. The same shocked sorrow overcame her once again. Not her.

Shame, grief, and surprise waged a fierce and sudden war in her mind. No side came out on top. All she could do was look and not act. When she thought Jen was dead before, as they approached her body, Annie wondered if she could kill her oldest friend – rotter or not. It seemed she had her answer.
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Is that so?
Where the fuck did she go!?

The obvious question bounced through Nolan's mind. Jen was missing. Maybe he was overthinking this; maybe Annie had simply decided to move her somewhere else. That made sense, right? Maybe Annie thought some fresh air would be a good idea? Not sure why Annie would move someone around when she was in Jen's shape, but she was the doctor here. She knew what she was doing; Willow had assured him of that.

"Annie probably moved her." Nolan stated his idea out loud; mostly to convince himself that it was probably true.

"Yeah, maybe." Willow popped open the holster at her hip and wrapped her fingers around the grip of her FNP. "We should look around though, just be sure."

Her actions did not exactly inspire confidence in Nolan, but he knew what she was preparing for. The same thing he should be preparing for. With a deep, nervous breathe, they headed outside. And immediately they were drawn to the spectacle unfolding not far from them. They couldn't see what exactly was going on, but it gave Nolan a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

* * * * *

Kelsey was freed from Jen's grasp, thanks to Connor's quick save. She was able to wrest her leg free and put some distance between herself and the crawling rotter that was Jen.

What do I do?

Kelsey saw Connor get tackled by another one of the rotters; but they couldn't hurt him. Only Jen could because she had teeth. If she could kill Jen, then they were safe. But when Kelsey saw her face, all she remembered was how Jen had helped her shoot after dad died. She remembered how she had tried to cheer her up. She remembered how she tried to cheer everybody up. Jen was her friend.

Why?

She couldn't do it. She could only watch the rotter crawl toward her with a ravenous look in its eyes. Kelsey's arms couldn't move. She physically couldn't raise the knife above her head with the intent to execute her friend. This was why they were so deadly. This was how the plague had been so successful. Kelsey saw Jen coming for her, but she could barely do anything besides look on in terror.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli shoved Kelsey aside. He aimed his Supergrade at the ground in front of his feet, where Jen’s head was – no, where what used to be Jen’s head was.

BLAM!

The bullet thudded into the top of her skull, and her chin fell to the ground. Eli’s eyes met hers – which were half-open, half-closed, and fully-dead. He stared into them for a long moment. It felt like 10 minutes, it might have been 10 seconds.

Then he turned, leaning down and grabbing the rotter on top of Connor. He gripped it by the back of its collar and dragged it off the struggling kid, tossing it to the ground.

BLAM!

The other toothless rotter that the kids had failed to kill stumbled towards him. Eli adjusted his aim.

BLAM!

The lesson was over.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon practically collapsed as he reached Kelsey. He reached for her frantically and began checking her arms snd legs fir bites and scratches.

"Did it bite you? Did it bite you?" he asked with a note of panic.

She was clean. Another scare. His relief was palpable as he wrapped his arms around her as much to calm his own racing heart as to console her. As the panic subsided the bitter reality of what just happened really sank in. Jen was dead. They'd been so close to having her back. He knew to temper his optimism but he couldn't help it, he was almost certain thingd would be alright. He could have possibly forgiven himself if shd had woken up but now she was gone and itcould never be made right.

"I'm sorry, Jen." he finally managed to say it.

It was so innadequate.
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